The World Health Organization is launching its 2023 health emergency appeal for US$ 2.54 billion to provide assistance to millions of people around the world facing health emergencies. The number of people in need of humanitarian relief has increased by almost a quarter compared to 2022, to a record 339 million.
Currently, WHO is responding to an unprecedented number of intersecting health emergencies: climate change-related disasters such as flooding in Pakistan and food insecurity across the Sahel and in the greater Horn of Africa; the war in Ukraine; and the health impact of conflict in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and northern Ethiopia – all of these emergencies overlapping with the health system disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and outbreaks of measles, cholera, and other killers.
WHO is currently responding to 54 health crises around the world, 11 of which are classified as Grade 3, WHO’s highest level of emergency, requiring a response at all three levels of the organization. As is often the case, the most vulnerable are the worst hit.
